FALL RIVER DIOCESAN NEWSPAPER FOR SOUTHEAST MASSACHUSEnS CAPE COD & THE ISLANDS
t eanco VOL. 26, NO. 1
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FALL RIVER, MASS., THURSDAY, JANUARY 7, 1982
20c, $6 Per Year
Rate hikes hit newspapers
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ARCHBISHOP KELLY
View of church
By Jerry Flnteau WASHINGTON'~NC) For the past five yea-rs, Bishop Thom as C. KeI1y has been point man for the U.S. bishops in dealings with the government, the' Holy See, and other bishops' confer ences around the world.
Bishop KeHy, general secretary of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops and U.S. Catho He Conference (NCCB - USCC) since 1977, has been at the cen ,ter in developing and implement ing national church policy on bdth public and in-church issues. He is a man of simple lifestyle, symbolized by Ithe fact that his episcopal crozier, emblematic of his pastora'l role; is a genuine shepherd's crook. Such croziers are usually ornate, often adorn ed with gems; but the bishop's staff, ot blond ash, cost only $7, raised by donations of .25 apiece from the priests working with him at NCCB headqu8l1ters. ' Now ~m archbishop, named to head the archdiocese of Louis
ville, Ky., the new prelate talked 'to NC News about issues and trends in the American church. Asked about the work and di rections of the NCCB-UseC, he said: "On an issue like disarma ment, for example, it was a great challenge for the bishops to de cide Ito ,issue a pastoral letter on 'that. It took great courage to an nounce that we were going to do it, tha't we ,have the know-how (to analyze and address the is sues involved), that we can teach collegially on an issue ,like tha1t,
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On the U.S. bishops' recent backing of the Hatch Amend ment, which would ndt prohibit abortions directly but would -re verse the Supreme Court decis ion that abortion is a womaJ;l's right and would allow the staltes and Congress to pass 1egislation restricting or prohibiting abor tion: "That was a huge leap, and I'm happy ,it came while I was around," said the archbishop. On the importance of the gov Turn to Page Six
WAASHINGTON (NC) Catholic editors are ~reeting the new year facing up to 175 per cent increases in postal cpsts. Rates for Catholic newspapers and magazines and other non profit publications are scheduled to go up Sunday, with the big gest jumps coming in out-of county mail costs. For The Anchor, postal rate rises alone wiD amount to more than $20,000 annually. Added to that, printing costs have risen 6 percent this year and the Nation al Catholic News Service has an nounced an 8 percent rate hike to subscribers. Father John F. Moore, editor, said that total increases' will amount to a yearly hike of well over $30,000 in publication ex penses, despite cost containment efforts now being mounted. "This new postal action is placing an exorbitant burden on the private sector, already taxed in so many ways," he said, noting that increases will heavily affect religious publications. "These publications are arms of organizations that on other fronts have already been called upon to replace services no long er supplied to the poor and handicapped by federal pro grams," pointed out the priest. "How often can government ex pect to come to the same source?" he queried. The biggest share of the postal increase is in the per piece charge on each item of mail on top of the pound rates for mail ing. Editors can offset a part of the costs by presorting much of their own outgoing mail, but
even presorted mail will cost more. Currently, newspapers can pre sort out-of-county copies to car rier route and pay 0.9 cents per piece. Under the new scheme, the per piece rate for mail sorted to carrier route will be 4.5 cents - or five times as much. Rates for mail sorted to zip code (but not carrier route) will go from the current 1.9 cents per piece to 5.5 cents per piece. Rates for non-sorted mail will go from 3.5 cents per piece to 7.1 cents. However, even costs under the presorting system can fluctuate based on other costs and vari ables. Overall, it is estimated, Cath olic newspapers face increased mail costs of 50-175 percent, or 50 cents to $2 per subscription. Long Fight The. fight over increased pos tal rates for the non-profit press goes back to 1971, when Congo ress and then-President Richard ]'Jixon reorganized .the :post off ice department. Among other things, the new ly-named Postal Service w'as charged with being more busi ness-like and efficient, and that meant making traditionally fa vored users of the mail, such as small newspapers and maga zines and similar publications, .pay more of the costs. Rates were scheduled to rise gradually over an extended per iod. But now the higher rates scheduled for implementation by 1987 (in most classes of mail) instead have been slated to take effect Jan. 10. Traditionally small religious and community newspapers,
magazines and other publica tions, profit as well as non profit, have been regarded as in struments of the public good which deserve favored postal rates. "It was considered 'public benefit' mail," said Ralph Stew art, a postal service spokesman. "This probably goes back into the history of the United States." About 200 years ago, George 'Washington spoke of the need to keep people informed. Citi zens are sometimes flighty, he implied, suggesting that "the touch of a feather would turn them away." "Let us bind these people to us with a chain that can never be broken," Washington proposed. And the U.S. mail system was set up. "Within the past several years, however, Congress and the pos tal service have turned away from the traditional principle that the public interest justifies low second-class postal rates," the Washington Post remarked in a 1975 editorial. The fight in Congress over higher mail rates continued throughout the 1970s. Members of Congress came and went, ad ministrations changed, but the arguments remained essentially the same: the postal service an nounced plans to raise rates and religious newspaper groups such as the Catholic Press Associa tion protested. Casualties included "Lamp," an ecumenical magazine issued by the Atonement Friars, which ceased publication in 1974 be Turn to Page Seven
'Catholic pres,s essential'
VATICAN CITY (NC) - The Catholic press is essential in a world where the mass media are among "the strongest powers that affect the destiny of human ity," Pope John Paul II said Jan.
4. Speaking to bishops from the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy, the pope said that "the Catholic newspaper is not a superfluous thing but a necessary instrument for evangelization." "Today more than ever one sees the importance of the for mative work of the Catholic press, aimed at enlightening con sciences, at dissipating false in terpretations, insinuations and manipulations, in respect for the opinions of others and in faith
ful dialogue, backed by the con viction that each man, redeemed and loved by the Lord, is called to truth," he said. "It must always be concerned, in fact, with educating the read er, maturing in him or her that healthy mentality which classi fies the facts according to su-
NEX'TWEEK
Statements of Massachusetts members of Congress on tuition tax credits
perior principles," the pope add ed. Pope John Paul said the Cath oli<: press is important "for the diffusion of Christian principles and for the defense of Catholic positions in society ... and for the formation of a healthy and open public opinion on every good cause." He praised the Italian national Catholic newspaper, Avvenire, which is currently edited by a priest from the Emilia-Romagna region, Msgr. Emilio Tonini. Pope John Paul's talk to the bishops, who were in Rome on their "ad Iimina" visits made every five years, also stressed 'Turn'·to Page Six